Afghan forces have secured the Kunduz prison, a police compound and the neighborhood of Zir Dawra, police spokesman Sayed Sarwar Hossini said.
Advertisement
Mr. Ghani, who completes one year in office on Tuesday, has found himself under significant public pressure, as his national unity government has remained stagnant on nearly every front.
Afghan forces have begun an operation to retake the city of Kunduz, after suffering a major military reverse when it was seized by the Taliban on Monday.
Despite the launch of the counter-offensive, Kunduz swarmed with Taliban fighters racing stolen police vehicles and Red Cross vans.
American forces, according to The Washington Post, have been trying to clear the way and soften the city up with continued air strikes which started at dawn on Tuesday.
Restraint Mr Ghani announced in a televised address that more reinforcements were on their way to regain the city, which he said had fallen partly because government troops had shown restraint to avoid civilian casualties. He said the Taliban had “sustained heavy casualties”.
“The situation is very serious, and intense fighting is going on between our mujahideen and Afghan forces”.
“Security forces coming from Kabul were ambushed by the Taliban in Jar Khoshk locality, in Kunduz’s neighboring province of Baghlan”, an Afghan officer told Anadolu Agency on condition of anonymity. Monday, the Taliban freed hundreds of prisoners from the jail including Taliban members, according to media reports.
The new takeover by the Taliban highlights the flawed strategy of the US and its allies in dealing with increasing violence in Afghanistan, which continues to suffer the consequences of the USA invasion a few 14 years later.
“The Afghan security forces have been retaking most of the strategic parts of the city”, he added.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said one reason for the assault on Kunduz was to prove that the group was still united, after the appointment of a new leader in July had angered many key figures.
Meanwhile, Afghanistan’s thinly spread security forces are increasingly also having to deal with the threat from the self-styled Islamic State group, which is looking to make inroads in the troubled country.
The attack is the second time this year that the Taliban threatened to seize Kunduz, which is the main city of Kunduz province.
Advertisement
Kunduz is strategically and symbolically important as it is both a transport hub for the north of the country and the Taliban’s former northern stronghold, before their government was overthrown.
